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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Interview with Director Kevin MacDonald for Latest Movie "Black Sea"

By Tinsel & Tine Blog Contributor - MIKHAIL REVLOCK

Kevin MacDonald is nothing if not ambidextrous. With almost metronomic regularity, the Scottish director alternates between shooting fiction films and documentaries. Though he might not be a household name in the states—he is quick to confess that he has yet to produce a “hit”—MacDonald does not lack in prestigious accolades. One Day in September, his gripping account of the Munich Massacre, netted the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2000. His 2004 docudrama Touching the Void is widely considered the best mountaineering film of all time. And in 2006 MacDonald introduced the world to Forest Whitaker’s dark side, facilitating his Oscar-winning turn as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.

Black Sea, scheduled for wide release on January 30th, marks another foray into fiction filmmaking for the 47-year-old director. A modern submarine thriller, Black Sea stars Jude Law as an ex-Navy man who is contracted to plumb the depths of the titular sea in search of a sunken Nazi U-Boat loaded with gold bricks. He is joined by a crew composed of equal parts English and Russians, and the friction between the two contingents is evident from the outset of the mission. When Law’s character announces that the gold will be divided equally among the shipmates, his benevolent dictate sets off a bitter dispute over shares. It isn’t long before a startling act of violence throws the entire mission into jeopardy.

I met with Kevin MacDonald at a conference room in the Four Seasons Hotel. He was affable and unpretentious, and showed me how to use the automated espresso machine. Setting my double espresso on a round table, I launched the interview with an examination of his diverse body of work.

Revlock: Looking at your career, I noticed that you bounce between fiction films and documentaries with relative frequency. Do you have a medium preference?

MacDonald: I like fiction films because I feel like I’m still learning. That’s one of the fun things about fiction. I don’t think you could ever really learn everything about it. Working with actors is so fascinating and unpredictable. I like documentaries because you get to learn about the world. I’m doing a film about a Chinese artist right now, and I’ve been enjoying immersing myself in this singular world. It’s like being a journalist.

Revlock: Your fiction films feel like documentaries and your documentaries feel like fiction films. There is a level of detail in your work that gives it a strong sense of authenticity, especially in The Last King of Scotland, where there feels like a real engagement with Ugandan culture that you wouldn’t see in most films set in Africa.

MacDonald: That movie was interesting because it was my first fiction film, and the studio wanted me to film it in South Africa, and I checked out Uganda, and I saw this incredible, rich, vibrant culture, and I thought this is amazing. And I went to South Africa on the same trip, and it was completely different. And I insisted to the studio that we film it in the actual setting of the real events because I wanted to showcase a strong sense of place, to evoke for the audience a specific world. In South Africa, the people look different, the landscape is totally different, the language is different. Coming from documentaries, I'm not so inclined to put on a show. You could say it's a failure of imagination, but it's just the way I like to do things, I want the reality to be a part of it. Even when the film is a total fiction like #BlackSea.

Revlock: In 2006, you coax this Oscar-winning, possibly career-best performance out of Forest Whitaker. With Black Sea, you get a performance from Jude Law unlike anything in his filmography. How do you elicit such strong performances from the actors in your productions?

MacDonald: Those performances have something in common in that they are both going completely against type. With Forest, in particular. At the time, everyone thought I was crazy. They said, ‘Forest is a gentle, sweet guy, he's so not right for this villainous role.’ And I didn't see it either. But when he auditioned for the part, he blew me away. So I've learned not to hold onto my preconceptions about actors. If they've bothered to read for the part, I'm going to give them a fair shake. It was the same with Jude. He wasn't the kind of person I could imagine playing a submarine commander. But when I started talking to him about it, I could tell that he got the character, and he spent a long time preparing for it. He developed his muscles in the right parts, learned how to walk like a sailor, lowered his voice, learned this specific Aberdeen accent, shaved his head, and became this other person. When you know someone's committed like that, it's a gift.”

Revlock: What inspired you to make a submarine film?

MacDonald: I just felt like there hasn't been one for a while. I read about the Kursk disaster in 2000, where there was an explosion in a submarine, and the sub sank to the bottom of the sea, and one of the compartments was intact. Some of the sailors managed to make it into an intact compartment, and they survived there for six days, but they were too deep to rescue, and they eventually ran out of oxygen and died.

Revlock: I was kind of hoping for the movie to end that way, but I figured there's too much money behind this.

MacDonald: Well, only two people survive. You're the first person in America to say you were hoping they'd all die.

Revlock: It has a seventies movie feel. Naturalistic performances, minimal CGI, so I was expecting it to end in a typical bleak seventies way.

MacDonald: It is pretty bleak. Your hero does drown. I think that it's an interesting thing, endings in movies. Are we softer now? People think that the ending of Black Sea is quite shocking. They say, ‘Why did he have to die? Couldn't he have found a way out?’ I tell them, he feels like he deserves to die, he's manipulated all these people to go there. He's saved the boy, he's living on through the boy. He doesn't want the boy to make the same mistakes he did. That feels like the right ending to me. But people tell me it's too dark. Maybe in the past, they all would have ended up in the bottom.

Revlock: Plus they’d have eaten each other.

MacDonald: It's interesting how hard it is to do dark endings in the mainstream. I did a movie called State of Play with Russell Crowe as a journalist. I suggested to the studio that it end with Crowe being shot. And they flipped out!

Revlock:It's tempting to attribute your influences to other submarine films, but there are so many other films that it resembles: Alien, Moby-Dick, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. MacDonald: “Treasure of the Sierra Madre", yes. "Alien", of course. Submarine films, not so much. We looked at them to see how to shoot it, but that’s it. Because all submarine movies are military movies. This is very different. One of the things that Dennis Kelly, the writer, does so well is he creates realistic characters in a simple way. He doesn't over-explain them, they just are. And the dialogue is very authentically working-class, very rough and crude.” Revlock: “I liked the coarseness of the language. It did feel very real MacDonald: “Yeah, it feels like that's how a bunch of sailors would talk.” Revlock: “It seems like studio generally don't give directors too much grief about profanity if they know they're not aiming for a PG-13.” MacDonald: “No, that wasn't a problem. They were more worried about the accents. We tried hard to have strong, authentic accents and be understandable to American ears. How did you find it?” Revlock: “It wasn't bad as Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels for me. I was totally lost in that. Watching your film, I adjusted to it.” MacDonald: “Good.”

Revlock: Sound is a pretty critical element of submarine films.MacDonald: Absolutely. When you're trying to create an immersive experience, if you will, sound is your best friend. It's those subtle sounds. The sound of metal, the subtle sound of water rushing. And the different engines.Revlock:So you work pretty closely with the sound engineers?
MacDonald: Really closely. I've got a bunch of sound guys who I work with. A sound designer, Niv Adiri, I've worked with for my last few films. He won the Oscar last year for Gravity. He brought some of the same sensibility to this film.

Revlock: Many of the actors in Black Sea speak Russian. Did the language barrier make it difficult to direct them?

MacDonald: “Yes. The five real Russians in the film, they're all big name actors in Russia. They're lovely people, but they do like to talk a lot, to discuss and debate everything. And I was tearing my hair out because I had only got six weeks to shoot. But they were fantastic, they did amazing work. Only one of them spoke English. Everything had to be translated, and they felt a bit left out. So we had to make them feel included and explain everything to them.”

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Going into the movie, I knew what it was about, but I was under the impression it was Hollywood vs The Government. I never knew Hollywood turned on itself. Members of the HUAC were made up of Hollywood insiders like John Wayne (David James Elliott), Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) and Ronald Reagan. Others like ...READ POST

BROOKLYN

Hornby observes: "I think Eilis can see a life in America and she can see a life in Ireland, but she cannot maintain those two pictures at once. She knows you cannot square these two lives. So I think that's how she momentarily manages to love two people at once, because they are in separate worlds. But ultimately, she has to live in just one."READ MORE

AMY

THE MARTIAN

JOY

Joy is loosely based on the life of QVC darling and household product inventor Joy Mangano, who is a producer on the movie. It's a rags to riches story we can all relate to, as most people at some point, come up with a good idea that you wish you knew how to manufacture, produce, market and see it become a money maker. READ POST

45 YEARS

OSCAR SOCIAL MEDIA PARTY

Click image to see post on CBSPhilly

Philly Restaurant: THE LITTLE LION

History buffs Chris Younge and Jason Dills felt when naming their restaurant, a nod to historic Philadelphia was in order - "The Little Lion" was the nickname for Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first Treasury secretary; not a bad idea to connect the name of any business to money! READ MORE

REVOLUTION TACO

But my favorite sampling of the night wasn't even a taco, and happened to be vegetarian, I can't wait to go back for the Spinach & Fontina Empanada! The seasoned wilted spinach and piping hot cheese, dripping from a crusty pie twinkling with a dusting of sea salt: 4 TINES and a steal at $4 READ POST

Golden Globes Round Up 2016 /Oscar Boycott Dilemma

It's shocking the number of comments from people complaining that race becomes a factor when it comes to Academy Award nominations . They actually pretend to believe the nominees are chosen based solely on a system of excellence. If that were the case, how could Ryan Coogler be overlooked for Best Director? READ MORE

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

SPY

Spy, however, shows all of McCarthy's range, including some major action scenes. And the one liners - many of which I'm certain just spewed out of her in the heat of the moment, had our audience laughing so hard you missed the next two or three lines of the movie...READ POST

FANDANGO AFFILIATE

TRAINWRECK

CAST OF CREED IN PHILLY

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

Back when N.W.A. was blowin' up, I would have been listening to Prince, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston and believe it or not, The Judds. Yet, I'd a had to been living under a rock not to be aware of Gangsta Rap and groups like N.W.A and Public Enemy...READ POST

SPECTRE

24TH PHILADELPHIA FILM FESTIVAL

STAR WARS MINI REVIEW

I am by far certainly NO expert on the Star Wars Franchise. Seen all 7 movies, but not with any depth of viewing. But as movie-goer, I really enjoyed Star Wars:The Force Awakens not just because you get to spend time with the original cast, but in terms of good story telling. I felt all the prequels with Hayden Christiansen & Natalie Portman were mostly forgettable because George Lucas is so obsessed with CGI and battles that there's very little to connect to in terms of heart & story. JJ Abrams knows how to create balance!

GUEST POST: RORIE STILL

I asked Rorie who has written a compilation of Sci-Fi/Fantasy stories called "Flashbang: Sci-Fi Stories That Will Blow Your Mind" to weigh in on her TOP 5 READ POST

VOICELESS (Philly Made Indie)

It's no wonder the movie took Necerato 4 years to complete, it's a wonder it came to fruition this soon. After all, most Indie films require ample time to procure funding, and often are delayed due to working around schedules dictated by budget concerns; but then you throw a hot button issue like abortion into the mix and you're really working up hill. READ POST

YAKITORI BOY

Not sure why I've never noticed Yakitori Boy before, I've eaten at restaurants very near it, and done karaoke in Chinatown, but this party was my first experience of the place. The bottom level looks like a traditional Japanese restaurant. The 2nd level opens up to a bar/lounge featuring karaoke and private karaoke rooms. The private rooms encourage music themes like 80, 90's, Country, R&B etc...READ POST

BESITO MEXICAN RESTAURANT

I really wasn't expecting the exterior or interior to be so glamorous. When you hear a restaurant is part of a shopping center, even one as upper class as Suburban Square, your expectations are lowered; but get that thinking out of your head because Besito looks and feels more like a resort restaurant in a luxury beach town.READ POST

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA

I'm not that big on survivalist tales, although I like tales of adventure, but there's a difference. Tales of adventure are normally more fantastical and of the characters choosing. Survivalists stories are normally brutally realistic and a happenstance that the character couldn't avoid or had to embark on due to needing funds...READ POST

RENATA'S KITCHEN

The first thing that caught my attention on the menu was the Lemon-Poppy Pancakes - full stack stuffed with lemon-poppy ricotta & lemon custard. I'm big on anything lemon flavored and my all-time favorite muffin is a Lemon Poppy Seed and Pancakes, well, you know!... my only hesitation was that $11.50 price tag...

FIFTY SHADES: BOOK TO FILM COMPARISON

In terms of themes, EL James wrote a classic romantic tale of a wounded man and innocent woman meeting and falling in love, not unlike many such stories in literature - Jane Eyre for instance... READ POST

CAFE BREEZE COMES TO PHILLY

BIG STONE GAP

Hard to get passed some script issues with #BIGSTONEGAP , but I will say, that wedding cake with hot pink frosting and hot pink cake looked SO good. I wonder how many takes Judd had to do eating the cake? That's when I'd love to be a stand in! READ POST

SHNIT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

M. Night Shyamalan THE VISIT

LEARNING TO DRIVE

THE PERFECT GUY

MOOREBETTERFOOD

Dianne Moore founder of MOOREBETTERFOOD of Bala Cynwyd opened up her very lovely home to me, my videographer Jessica Lucky and Illustrator Diane Roka for an interview about women's health, nutrition and eating habits READ POST

THROW BACK: LIMITLESS

Anybody else watch the premiere of "Limitless" on CBS, based on the 2011 Bradley Cooper movie? I thought it was pretty decent. Cooper made a guest appearance on the show. Which reminded me he was also at the "Limitless" movie screening 4yrs ago and I had a chance to ask him a question but totally choked READ POST

NAACP CONVENTION RECAP

As you all know, Tinsel & Tine is hardly a political or socio-economic blog, but it does celebrate Philadelphia, and having both President Barack Obama and President Bill Clinton make appearances; along with a great many tourism $$$ pouring into the "City of Brotherly Love", qualifies as something to celebrate.. READ POST

EAST COAST WINGS

With all those wing flavors, believe it or not, Honey BBQ is their most popular, so our ECW Wing Flight didn't consist of flavors, instead we were served the Honey BBQ, but in 9 degrees of HEAT! READ POST

Viola Davis

Congratulations to Viola Davis for winning Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series and for giving an amazing speech. Only winner of the night who actually prepared to win! ‪#‎Emmys‬

A WALK IN THE WOODS

"A Walk in the Woods" is nothing like Reese Witherspoon's raw, lonely, penance walk in "Wild". This movie is mainly a buddy comedy, with a toned down comic edge. It's never boring like Redford's lonely sea voyage "All is Lost" (click for T&T post). Thankfully, these guys do get off the trail sometimes and stay in a hotel or go to a diner, which gave me relief watching them come up out of the rain, snow, and threats of bears... READ POST

MISTRESS AMERICA

AMERICAN ULTRA

For a relatively new director, Nima Nourizadeh does a fantastic job keeping the action tight and a good balance between fun, fight stunts and a "save the girl" love story; due in great part to a very workable script by Max Landis. READ POST

FANTASTIC FOUR

The Black Tribbles were in the house, so after the screening of Fantastic Four 2015, they rounded up a group of us movie writer/bloggers for a Fantastic hash session and we dissected the hell outta this flick, both the merits and the misfires! READ POST

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

ANT-MAN

Vendy Awards 2015 RECAP

MAGIC MIKE XXL: Review and Interview with Stephen "tWitch" Boss

I got a chance to sit down with tWitch at the Sofitel Hotel (120 S 17th St) in Philadelphia. We talked about the mirror dance he does with Tatum in the movie - the perks of being a DJ on "Ellen" - What he likes to eat when he goes home to Alabama and more... He seems like a grounded guy, always willing to give credit to others, the type of person you're happy to see things happening for! Watch Video

SELF/LESS

MARVEL EXPERIENCE RECAP

We met two @MarvelExperience executives in the parking lot as we were leaving, who let us take pictures with Thor's real hammer and Captain America's real shield from ‪the movie Avengers Age of Ultron‬ - They're heavy! More on Marvel Experience

WHILE WE'RE YOUNG

Cuba Libre: Summer Pig Out Every Monday

Chef-Partner Guillermo Pernot of Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar is roasting a pig for 8 hours using a “Caja China,” or Chinese roasting box every Monday night, right out on 2nd street in Old City Philly...READ POST

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

LOOK LIKE A LOCAL: PHILLY

LOOK LIKE A LOCAL:Travelers Not Tourists a new travel and tourist podcast that interviews local residents to find the hidden gems within each city featured. Each episode is an interview in a new destination with a resident who calls it home -Tinsel & Tine got to be interviewed for episode 21 LISTEN

JURASSIC WORLD

Jurassic World takes us back to Jurassic Park, only now it's 20 years later, and the amusement park has become as common as Disney World, even though you have to travel to Costa Rica to get there. John Hammond's vision for Jurassic Park (homage is paid with original logos and other references to the 1st movie) is in the hands of ... READ POST

DuBu Restaurant Opening (Korean BBQ)

The name DUBU is short for Sundubu Jjigae the name of a popular, traditional Korean soup. Dubu Soup is usually made with pieces of pork, small clams (also know as cockles), red-pepper powder, chopped garlic, a few other spices and beef broth.. READ POST

BACKSTAGE NOW CASTING

"Backstage landed me three lead features, MTV and Google commercials, two short films, and several music videos all in five months!"
– Taylor Lashae

5 Flights Up

A Revlock Perspective: INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 3: Into the Further 4D Experience

I didn’t know how to prepare for the Into the Further 4D Experience. The team at Allied warned it would be a mix of frights old-fashioned and newfangled, a fresh take on the haunted house model, a virtual preview of the third chapter of the Insidious saga…READ POST

Philly Filmmaker: Aleksandra Svetlichnaya

Cosplay this is a term I was unfamiliar with till I attended the Philly preview screening of writer/director Aleksandra Svetlichnaya's short film DINNER.. Here's my interview with this up and coming Ukrain born/Philly bred writer/director.. READ POST

Pretty Plum Sugar Partner

Dinner and a Movie: PITCH PERFECT 2 REVIEW AT BAHAMA BREEZE

Check out the video which features Kem of KemKlicks and I discussing the summer sequel Pitch Perfect 2 over dinner at Bahama Breeze Island Grille in King of Prussia WATCH VIDEO

All of which makes independent filmmaker Garrett Batty’s completion of “Freetown” such an accomplishment. “Freetown,” which is playing nationwide, dramatizes the riveting true story of six Mormon missionaries whose faith underwent the ultimate test when they became trapped in Liberia during the 1989 civil war... READ POST

AVENGERS; AGE OF ULTRON

For the first time, I finally began to care about Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) he's much more than the expendable guy throwing arrows in this movie. He even acknowledges the fact that he's kinda useless compared to the superhuman strengths of the others.READ POST

Interview: Mekhi Phifer for "Insurgent"

Got a chance to talk to Mekhi Phifer at the Four Seasons Philadelphia, about being a part of the Divergent Series: "Insurgent".

On a Food n Film note: Mekhi was hoping to have a Philly Cheese Steak while he was here but ran out of time. The Four Seasons is going to have to set up a delivery system with Pat's or Geno's, cause all the celebs want them when they come for these press junkets.

Mehkhi also answers this question: If you could recreate any movie and put yourself in the lead roll, what would it be?

So check me out in my first on camera interview And CANDI's CORNER INSURGENT Review

Muvee

eBOOKS

ME N MO MEATBALLS & MORE

I got to try, well, try implies I took a bite - I ate 6 or more meatballs, each with its own sauce, along with a generous portion of perfectly weighted Gnocci, all enjoyed with fresh baked focaccia bread...READ POST

BLACK TRIBBLES

TINSEL & TINE'S RADIO DEBUT (Thurs 1/15/15) - I turned the tables on the BLACK TRIBBLES and interviewed them about their black nerdness and 2015 Upcoming Sci-Fi flicks LISTEN TO PODCAST

SELMA Director Ava DuVernay with Tinsel & Tine Editor Le Anne Lindsay

Director Ava DuVernay was in Philadelphia the week before Christmas on a press junket for her stirring and beautifully shot film SELMA. READ INTERVIEW

MOMMY

The film brings us into the world of Diane "Die" Despres (Annie Dorval) an overly made up, aging beauty with a nice figure in her sequined jeans. Her manner is frank and frequently too loud. She's what you'd call a natural survivor. READ POST

GOLD MEDAL WINE CLUB

SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION

SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION is the kind of documentary you'd stumble upon at a small film festival, in between two other films you really came to see. It's only Ethan Hawke's name and longtime connections in the business that could have pushed the film to the forefront.READ POST

Mouth.com

Mouth.com - Our goal is to help you discover and get the best, most delicious and most interesting indie food products and to help indie makers grow their business.

The Wrecking Crew

Covered "The Wrecking Crew" Music Doc during PFS/XPN Music Film Fest, so glad this entertaining, important piece of history is now in theaters! READ POST

Debbie Allen Does Philly

Debbie Allen graciously gave a free "Inside the Actors Studio" type visit to Philly at International House on July 2, 2014. Full of saucy humor and passion, Ms. Allen lectured on creativity, her life's journey, what it means to be an artist, her relationship with her sister Phylicia Rashād, the 18 years it took to get AMISTAD made and so much more... Click HERE to see video excerpt of her address to us lucky enough to attend this inspiring and insightful event.

Philly Spotlight on Pinterest

Philly is #3 on New York Times List of Places to Go in 2015

A series of projects has transformed Philadelphia into a hive of outdoor urban activity. READ ARTICLE

Glowing Review of Tinsel & Tine by The Bicycle-Chef

LeAnne started blogging for a class assignment a few years back. In her funny, irreverent style, she was challenged to think of a pithy blog name and she blurted out, Suck My Pretty Toes! For a year or two, she blogged under this moniker, writing about her favorite pastimes, eating and seeing movies. As her audience grew and her hobby became a bigger passion, she changed the name over to Tinsel and Tine Reel and Dine, to reflect her blog's mission. Tinsel being Hollywood, aka, Tinsel Town. And Tine for the tines of a fork. Making it a bit more clever, she rates her food and restaurant reviews on a scale of fork tines; none, one, two, three, four, as a restaurant or the meal deserves...READ MORE

UPCOMING FILM FESTIVALS

Want to Know1 What Film Festiv1als Are Taking Place and Where? Click HERE

Silver Sites

Links to businesses, people, places and sites that are doing good works, are spiritual in nature, connected to Philly, or all of the above - See list below

NOW YOU SEE ME 2

It’s a year later and three of the Four Horsemen are still fugitives - Magician (J Daniel Atlas /Jesse Eisenberg), Mentalist (Merritt McKinney/Woody Harrelson) sleight-of-hander (Jack Wilder/Dave Franco) Isla Fisher was pregnant at the time of filming and declined to reprise her role as Illusionist Henley Reeves...READ POST

Netflix

Bread Footnote

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” 1) Do they bring bread before the meal? 2) Is the bread good enough to be worth all the extra carb calories? 3) Is the bread warm? 4) Are you offered both room temperature butter and an olive oil dipping sauce? 5) Do they offer to bring you more bread!